Autochrome Plates. The most improbable object imaginable—the lowly, lumpy potato—played a leading role in the Great Leap Forward of color photography. In 1903 two imaginative French inventors, Auguste and Louis Lumière, seized the pomme de terre and made it the basis for a dazzling new imaging process they called the autochrome, an innovation that would transform a monochromatic world into one gleaming with color. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/in-living-color-161118412/?no-ist

Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt (1718–1782), 1782, by Tilly Kettle. Wearing a flag officer's undress uniform of c.1774–1783. A fighting sword is by his left side and he leans on a long telescope that rests on his left foot. Kempenfelt was also the inventor of a numeral signal code that helped to revolutionize naval tactics. The portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1782.National Maritime Museum

In 1844, Alexandre Dumas père wrote The Three Musketeers. He is the grandson of a Haitian Marie-Cessette Dumas, and his father remains the highest ranking African descent soldier in any European army. The lack of prejudice reflects the equality-liberty-fraternity motto of France. He is one of the most widely read French Authors and his works have been made into over 200 movies.